


salt the—

by surely_silly



Series: goldilocks planet [1]
Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-18 04:05:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2334638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surely_silly/pseuds/surely_silly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We can thrive."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some chapters were written before the end of the series so, yeah.

_Ah._

Slaine blinks, feels everything go blistering hot, then—then cold. So cold.

 _Tap tap_ , goes Lord Saazbaum's fingers, smile sharp as knives, bloody smudges at his temple.

"Don't."

The terran smiles, one bright, shuttered red eye.

_Orange._

_Bat._

remember this winter—december, 2014.

we may have won the battle, but we have not won the war.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Slaine cannot remember Father. A kind word, or a soft hand carding through his hair. There is  _nothing._ Except—Yes, there was— _no, **no** —_is the Princess. The center of an entire world, his world— he a goldilocks planet, her a bright, shining star in the void around him.

Bright smiles, bright eyes. He tells her what he knows, creatures of the so very blue sky. Of the dark blue depths. Green as far as the eye can see, warm yellow dappling the lush ground. Abundance, overindulgence. There is no want.

_Do you think that we—_

He sees her now, bloody, broken, and thinks,  _No,_

_nothing will ever grow here. Not without you._


	3. Chapter 3

It's agonizingly slow, and she seems so—so far. And, Inaho's tired. So very tired.

 _Seylum,_ he thinks, drags himself forward.  _Seylum. Seylum, I'm here._

He's almost there. So close. Inaho struggles upright, arm trembling, single eye shuttered against the throbbing pain.

There's a click, reload.

"Don't."

 

 

 

**_O r a n g e ._ **

 

 

 

Inaho twists around, takes in the blond hair, the wooden blue eyes.

 _I'm not sorry,_ he thinks, smiles with a soft huff. 

 

 

 

**_B a t ._  **

 

 

 

The last thing Inaho sees, past the shining barrels of their handguns,

is someone that has died hating the entire world.

 

 

 

**_Y o u   a r e   m y   e n e m y ._ **

 


	4. Chapter 4

Okisuke slips from his fingers.

Horror. Crushing, dark, oily. It's a thick grease that drops over him, a hollow gong that throbs in his ears. Wide brown eyes, tear rimmed.

He—He  _fades_  to nothing against the Versian kataphrakt's shield. Broken down to  _nothing_. Gone. Just, gone.

 

 

_O k o j o ?_

 

 

Inaho blinks, curls his fingers to his palm, wind splitting around his body, and.

he never talks about it. Never forgets, but there is no time. No time to grieve, not properly, not in the way that Okisuke deserves. There are no tears, but there is a tightness in his chest. Almost breathless moments when he sees his friends, and knows— _knows_ that someone is missing. Will always be missing.

Inaho sees the orange kataphrakts, sees Okisuke, and knows there is no time for fear or second guessing.

He died trying to save Yuki without pause, without _hesitation_ , and Inaho knows he can never repay that, but thinks he will  _try_.

Will do what he can do best:

Make sure they all have a fighting chance.


	5. Chapter 5

Yuki keeps a brave face, even as she wants to cry.

She knows when Inaho's happy, when he's depressed, when he's lying. Yuki knows him best, and he's all she has.

 

 

 

" _You go on ahead. I'll be right behind you._ "

 

 

 

It's the last she sees of him. The back of his orange kataphrakt, braced against the enemy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

> **_liar._ **

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> s2ep1 spoilers ahead.

It doesn't hurt.

It doesn't hurt, doesn't pull taut in his chest. Doesn't do anything but sting the barest bit against his eye, the screen bright in the dark room.

Her voice is strong, firm, and resolute.

Wonderless, incurious, and.

 

 

 

this sounds familiar.

 

 

 

 

" _And now, those who settled the desolate lands of Mars have set their eyes on Earth._

 _The cradle of all humanity, a land blessed with water and air in such abundance that they refract light to make the sea and sky appear blue._ "

 

 

 

 

" **We shall take the blue Earth for Vers.**

 **Let us liberate this world, which possesses light and air in such quantities that it diffracts light, and makes the sky and seas blue** —"

 

 

 

 

" _That isn't true._ "

 

 

 

 

"It's wrong," he says, the words frothing up, poison from his lips.

 

 

 

 

 

" _The blue sky isn't caused by diffraction, but through the effects of Rayleigh scattering._ "

 

 

 

 

"It's Rayleigh scattering that makes the sky blue."

 

 

 

 

" _But Slaine said it was caused by light diffraction..._ "

" _The sky is blue from Rayleigh scattering, clouds are white from Mie scattering._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _Your friend was mistaken_."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _Like a broken record,_ Inaho thinks, remembers, and does not dare to hope.


	7. Chapter 7

He remembers the feel of Okisuke fingers in his. Rough, sweaty, and his nails uncut as they dig closer, cling, scrabble for purchase. Inaho remembers his eyes, and his face. The fear blooming like a flower to light as he slips away.

_His scream carried away with the wind._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inaho remembers pain. Blood in his eyes, and her voice. 

Then, her hand in his, and yes, everything will be fine—

_gunshots._

His hold falls empty, but no she's there. He knows she is, and he pushes, pushes forward. Inaho goes to her as she cannot to him.

_Pain. A deep, deadly blue._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He pulls tight, the arms locking together, and.

everything washes orange with fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _Kill me,_ he says, taps one finger to his forehead, and Inaho remembers this. What came after. But.

Inaho also remembers a promise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third time's the charm, Inaho figures in the end, a smile falling over his lips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_I have one more favor to ask of you._

_Please—_


	8. Chapter 8

Inko lays in bed that night, and stares up at the bunk above her.

She trusts Inaho, and she trusts Rayat. Inko trusts them, she really does, but it doesn't smother the seedling of doubt and fear that has settled and rooted. They freed a prisoner, a martian, and she can't figure why. Maybe if it'd just been Rayat, she'd have had horrible thoughts, ugly and unfair. She probably would have turned her in. But.

It was Rayat,  _and_  Inaho. For all that they're friends now, and how she wishes Rayat being a martian would have nothing to do with it, Inko's known Inaho the longest, and he is of Earth. He does nothing without reason, without considering every option, possibility, and figuring the risks and benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" _I'm sorry I dragged you into this, Inko._ "

_She turns, and gives him a small smile, but he's not looking at her. Eyes a rich crimson from the sunset, and on the sky stretching up and away, sliding ever closer to black._

 

 

 

 

 

_I'm trusting you guys,_ she thinks, and rolls over, eyes slipping shut.


End file.
